| KN6Y |
Rating:      |
2003-04-25 | |
| Excellent |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have had mine for over 5 years, I would buy it again. |
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| K2CZR |
Rating:      |
2003-04-25 | |
| Perfect?? |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| First off, nearly everything you need is only a push of a button or turn of a knob away, no need to search complicated menus to make simple adjustments. Good size, great receiver, cleanest audio both TX and RX I've heard and great looking. This is already a classic and well worth the investment. |
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| W7IS |
Rating:      |
2003-03-11 | |
| Excellant Audio |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Someday Kenwood might come out with a replacement for the discontinued TS-950DX, but until then the TS-870 is one fine radio. If I had to pick something about it that I would have liked changed is to increased the CW bandwidth above 1khz. Other than that it has great audio and a noise reduction option that allows pulling out weak stations on CW that otherwise would be unreadable. This radio was bought by my father in 1998 and shortly thereafter he lost his hearing. So it only has a few hours of transmit time on SSB. Virtually new condition. And its available for sale at a reasonable price. Email me at W7IS@arrl.net or look me up at QRZ.com if your interested. Frank |
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| KB4QLZ |
Rating:      |
2003-02-26 | |
| A+++++ |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Excellent received audio. Easy to operate. DSP is excellent. Always receive excellent transmitted audio reports. Would purchase another one.
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| KC5LVW |
Rating:    |
2003-01-22 | |
| Not Enough Radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Bought a 870 on advice from the "audiophile" hams as it is the "best" audio out of the bix without modification. It is good, real good but... no IF shift, no pre-amp, meter movement too fast on transmit, can't use the auto notch & DSP noise reduction at same time, no RX EQ adjustments, TX EQ adjustments uses only 3 preset values, Key only plugs into the back of rig, uses a "DIN" plug for interface to a linear and then requires a special cable, DSP uses preset value, etc. The TS-2000 has a lot of these features and is $500 less. Go figure!
73's
Jon, KC5LVW |
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| N9DLI |
Rating:     |
2003-01-02 | |
| Could be better! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I would call the 870 a fair attempt to build a great radio. Starting with the outside of the unit, this rig has a nice look and feel with big knobs and a well lit and easy to read display. However, some labels are very hard to see, and some knobs have a loose feel to them. Learning to use the rig comes quickly, but keep the manual close as takes time to learn where all the controls are - some either hidden on the face or buried in a menu. As for the menus, almost 70 secondary functions can be set in two different menus fast and easy, once you decifer the abbreviations. Audio reports using an HM-10 mic are outstanding, and the built-in antenna tuner will easily tune 6 bands into my windom (a very hard antenna to tune). As for the DSP, the Hi/Lo filters are great, as is the beat cancel function. The other DSP functions seem to be hit or miss in how they work. I have worked several digital modes also, using the ACC2 port, with great success. The rig puts out a clean, clear signal, and receives very weak signals with 100% copy. Overall, I call it a good rig that could use some improvement.
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| AD4C |
Rating:      |
2002-12-16 | |
| Great radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| For more than ten years as a very active ham in all bands and having tried all top of line radios from Yaesu as the FT-1000D and FT-1000MP and Icoms 746Pro,this is my first Kenwood radio,as I am getting old my ears were tired of listening with noise and not good audio quality,and recently traded my 1999 FT-1000MP with a local guy who is basically a contester,now I have to say that I do have a real receiver,audio is very pleasant and floor noise is lower than my MP,not only that,when I ragchew in SSB with the HI-FI SSB guys I can be receiving them in the 3.4Khz bandwith and still have a brick wall selectivity with excelent audio quality,thing that I could not do with the MP in 6.0Khz because of lack of selectivity and poor AGC performance.This TX have the best audio quality in the market,even without an external EQ,I am using just a 20 bucks Radio Shack dynamic mic and the reports received are allways "outstanding transmitted audio" I don't have so far the front end overloading some guys has reported here,I have used it either in CW or SSB and its a super radio,I will keep it for long time,its the best radio I had so far.I will advice to any ham to purchase one of these and I am sure he will be please as I am.Thanks to all who read this. |
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| VE7AZC |
Rating:     |
2002-11-20 | |
| First impressions |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I received the radio today, used but in MINT condition ... a jewel. However, after having owned an 830, a 930 and a 940, I have to say that I an VERY disappointed in the "feel and finish" of the radio. I mean the feel of the knobs and buttons. The concentric knobs that control the variable functions are all PLASTIC!! What a let-down. The main tuning knob is fine, though.
I know it sounds petty ... but if you've ever owned a good 940 you'll know what I mean. Silky, metallic quality all the way. I have a freind's FT-1000 here to compare. I gotta admit the 870 just feels cheap in comparison.
On the other hand, the keyer is top notch, the DSP is really great, and the menus are easy. It is really generations ahead of the 940 in that sense. I just wish Kenwood would have stuck with the real metal knobs instead of the smoked plastic stuff. It feels kind-of "Fisher-Price'ish".
I hope this rig grows on me because it does have some 'keeper' features.
I rate it a solid 4. It would be a 5 if not for the cheap feel of the knobs.
Cheers,
Herb |
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| G0WXP |
Rating:      |
2002-07-03 | |
| the best without a doubt |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| i have tried many hf rigs including ft1000mp and icom 756 and none in my opinion come anywhere near the ts870,i can sit back and relax and enjoy pleasent sounding audio without straining my ears near the speaker,the selectivity and general performance of this rig is in my words INCREDIBLE,the guy who sold me this rig tried a 756 pro at the same time on the same antenna and the 870 was streets ahead on signal to noise performance,i will be keeping this radio for ever,its a fantastic cw rig and i just cant praise it enough 100% the dogs doodaas.SO GO BUY ONE YOU WONT REGRET IT.many thanks to my mate m0ctq for giving me the pleasure of owning a true top notch radio. |
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| GI0ZGB |
Rating:      |
2002-05-28 | |
| Digital Diamond |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| The TS-870SAT has a fabulous RX and TX performance, it produces superb audio from a variety of dedicated and third party mics and EQ units. The receive performance is superior to the FT-1000D through MP Mk5 when the frequencies are clean and clear, able to resolve voice that the analog / audio DSP rigs could not. But when your neighbours are knocking simultaneously at your front and back door, the 870 did not compare well, the analog filtering clearly much more effective at rejecting adjacent inteference than the I.F. DSP approach. This is the Achilles heel of ALL I.F. DSP rigs. Despite the sales hype about out performing analog design, on the air comparisons swiftly establish the truth. Personally I think the optimum performance in this respect must come from a marriage of both types of filtering, for clearly as yet, DSP only filtering is a poor second. The menu system is superb and easy to navigate, but this requires a learning period for familiarity to set in, the new owner may struggle a little at first to find the location and then how to adjust settings. The TX audio is amongst the finest on the bands when set up correctly, and in similar fashion the RX audio can be simply stunning. On my wish list would be the inclusion of six metre coverage, and two hundred watt output, and a Speech Synthesiser which calls out the function of all the buttons and thus pander to the white stick operator who by and large is neglected by most every manufacturer, more attention to the wants of the visually impared and disabled needs to be urgently addressed. The TS-870 is a reliable rig, lacking in a few areas but nonetheless a rig which I can warmly recommend to anyone. |
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